Blender



Nov. 29, 1966 a. H. BERGSTROM 3,288,44l

BLENDER Sh ets-Sheet .1 Filed Oct. 18, 1965 2 e Mia I Il"IlIlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII NOV-29, 1966 B. H. BERGSTROM BLENDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed OGC. 18, 1965 United States Patent O M 3,288,441 BLENDER Bertil H. Bergstrom, West Allis, Wis., assignor to Allis- Clralmers Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis. Filed Oct. 18, 1965, Ser. No. 497,363 7 Claims. (Cl. 259-3) This invention relates to blenders or mixing machines of the type having a rotating drum and is more particularly concerned with a continuously operating blender. Continuous feed rotating drum blenders are known in the prior art. The most elementary type resembles the conventional rotary dryer. In this type of machine the material to be mixed is lifted by the rotating drum and is dumped as it is carried to the top of the drum. Although reasonably satisfactory results can be obtained from this type of mixing, considerable time is required to insure a thorough blending of the material.

The subject invention contemplates a mechanical splitting of the material as it is dumped by the rotating drum so as to insure a wide dispersion of the material. With mechanical splitting, there is a continual intermingling between the material entering and leaving the drum, resulting in a more complete blending in a shorter period of time in the mixer.

It is therefore a general object of the subject invention to provide a blender of the hereinbefore described type which permits a more thorough mixing of the material in a shorter period of time than was possible in the prior art.

A further object of the subject invention is to provide a blender of the hereinbefore described type wherein there is a mechanical splitting and recombining of the material as it passes through the blender.

An additional object of the subject invention is to provide a blender of the hereinbefore described type wherein the material is split causing a portion of it to move forward in the blender and a portion of it to move rearward in the blender.

Another object of the subject invention is to provide a blender of the hereinbefore described type with means for selectively adjusting the mean speed at which the material moves through the blender.

These and other objects of the subject invention will become more fully apparent as the following description is read in light of the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation partly broken away showing a blender constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross section taken along the line II--II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial isometric view, partly broken away showing one embodiment of the splitting mechanism of the subject invention;

FIG. 4 shows an end view of the mechanical splitting mechanism and a suggested means of adjusting the rate of flow of the material through the blender;

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of the adjusting mechanism;

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 are cross sectional views of a portion of the splitting and adjusting mechanism showing the adjusting mechanism in different positions of adjustment to control the rate of flow of the material through the blender.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly FIGS. l and' 2, the blender of the subject invention includes an elongated circular drum generally indicated 6. The drum may be supported for rotation in any conventional manner and is herein shown as including two longitudinally spaced rings 7 and 8 rigidly connected to the outer peripheral surface of the drum. Each ring has a beveled surface which is supported in complementary beveled surthe invention.

3,288,441 Patented Nov. 29, 1966 ICC faces of the wheels 9 and 11. These wheels support the longitudinal weight component of the drum resulting from its sloping attitude and also the thrust of the material falling within the drum. Two pairs of spaced rollers 12 and 13 support the vertical weight component of the drum and prevent lateral motion. The pairs of rollers 12 and 13 are journaled in supporting blocks 14 and 16 respectively. A motor and pinion 17 shown in FIG. 1 may be utilized to drive a ring gear 18 connected to the outer peripheral surface of the drum.

The intake end of the drum 6 is closed by an end plate 19 and the other end or discharge end of the drum is closed by an end plate 21. The drum is fitted into the end plates as shown to permit rotation of the drum relative to the end plates. An intake opening is provided in the inlet end cover plate 19 and a chute 22 is connected thereto to provide a means of admitting the material to be mixed into the interior of the drum. There is an opening through the discharge end cover plate for discharge of the mixed material. This opening may be provided with a chute 23 which is positioned to catch the mixed material for discharge from the drum.

Means are provided on the interior peripheral surface of the drum to lift the material to be mixed. These lifting means may take any convenient configuration and are herein shown as radially directed longitudinally extending circumferentially spaced blades 24. As shown herein for purposes of illustration the radially inner ends of the blades 24 are angled to control the amount of material dumped from the blade as a function of the angular position of the blade as it is lifted upward and passes over the central portion of the interior of the drum.

A mechanical splitting means or bridge generally designated 26 is positioned within the drum 6. This splitting bridge is composed of a plurality of rows of declining channel sections or troughs. As best shown in FIG. 3, there are forwardly sloping troughs 27 and rearwardly sloping troughs 28. It should be understood that although as shown here for purposes of illustration, adjacent troughs are oppositely sloped, this arrangement may be changed without departing from the spirit of the invention. Similarly, although adjacent troughs are shown of equal width and inclination, these arrangements may also be changed without departing from the spirit of Thus the forward sloping troughs may be less inclined than the rearward troughs, thus proJ viding a net forward motion to the material. The troughs are connected to longitudinally extending beams 29 and 31 which in turn are supported at opposite ends thereof on the end plates 19 and 21.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 through 8, a means is provided for adjusting the speed of travel of the material to be mixed through the blender. This adjusting means can take different shapes and is herein shown as including a rectangular ladder type structure as shown in FIG. 5. A series of longitudinally spaced inverted V-shaped rungs 32 are connected between longitudinally extending side plates 33 and 34. This adjusting ladder is supported on angles 36 and 37, positioned on either side of the bridge 26 as shown in FIG. 4. It should be understood that the rungs could be slats instead of inverted V-shapes, and each could be of different dimensions or inclination. A similar type of control could be mounted below the bridge.

The operation of the blender is as follows: The materials to be mixed are delivered to the intake chute 22 by means of a hopper, screw conveyor or other conven tional means (not shown). The two or more substances to be mixed fall to the bottom of the drum and are picked up by the blades 24. As shown in FIG. 2, the drum rotates in a clockwise direction causing the blades to lift the material to be mixed above the splitting bridge 26. As the material is raised above the bridge, it falls off the blades and onto the bridge in a curtain over the entire width of the bridge. The curtain ideally would be equally distributed into all the troughs. A portion of the material slides down the forwardly sloping troughs 27 and a portion falls backward down the rearwardly sloping troughs 28. In this manner each portion which is picked up by an individual blade is split forwardly and rearwardly by the troughs. This process is repeated until the material is thoroughly mixed and passes through the blender to the discharge chute 23. As best shown in FIG. l, the drum is sloped downwardly toward the discharge end so as to insure movement from the intake to the discharge end of the blender.

The adjusting mechanism shown in FIG. 5 can be shifted to increase or decrease the mean speed of the movement of the material through the blender. In FIG. 6 the adjusting mechanism is centrally placed over the troughs so that it has no effect on the mixing of the material, because the path lengths of the half of the material in the forward troughs equals the path lengths of the half of the material in the backward troughs. In FIG. 7, the V- shaped rungs 32 are moved rearwardly relative to the rows of troughs thereby causing the forward distance traveled by the half of the material in the forward troughs to be greater than the backward distance traveled by the half of the material in the backward troughs, thus speeding up the passage of the material through the blender. In FIG. 8, the adjusting mechanism has been moved forwardly causing the half of the material which falls on the fearwardly sloping troughs 28 to move the greater distance thereby increasing the time required for the material to pass through the blender.

Similarly, it would also be possible to install a ladderlike structure with rungs running the length of the bridge, such that lateral movement of the rungs results in more or less material falling into the forward or rearward set of troughs, and thus controlling the net rate of passage of the material through the blender. Similar results can be obtained with individually controlled baffles running the length of the bridge.

It is noted that an adjustment of the rotational speed of the drum will alter the distribution of material dumped across the width of the bridge, and that this distribution is also a function of design of the blades and of the amount of material lifted by the blades.

It thus becomes apparent that adjustments of the forward and backward path lengths and adjustments in the forward and backward proportions can insure movement of material from the intake to the discharge end of the blender thereby eliminating, if desired, the necessity of maintaining the downward slope of the entire blender.

From the above description it can be seen that a blender has been provided whereby a complete mixing of the individual substances is accomplished in a short period of time. The individual portions which are picked up by the rotating blades are caused to divide as they fall on the troughs in the splitting mechanism so that each individual portion is split both forward and rearward as well as split into portions across the width of the bridge. This insures not only that the entire material will be completely mixed, but also that each individual portion picked up by the blades will be divided a maximum number of times.

Although only one embodiment of the subject invention has been herein shown and described, it will be ob' vious to those skilled in the art after reading this description, that other modifications are possible and it is intended that all modifications which come within a reasonable interpretation of the appended claims will be covered.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A machine for mixing material comprising an elongated drum having an intake opening on one end thereof and a. discharge opening at the opposite end thereof; means supporting said drum for rotational movement about the longitudinal axis of said drum; an elongated stationary splitting bridge supported in said drum, said bridge having a. plurality of upwardly open troughs, a number of said troughs declining forwardly toward said discharge opening and a number of said troughs declining rearwardly toward said intake opening; means on the inner peripheral surface of said drum for lifting the material to be mixed as said drum rotates and dumping said material so that said material is distributed onto said bridge, a portion of said material falling down said rearwardly declining troughs and a portion falling down said forwardly declining troughs; and means for rotating said drum.

2. The machine set forth in claim 1 wherein said drum slopes downwardly toward said discharge end' to assist in the movement of the material to be mixed through the machine.

3. The machine set forth in claim 1 and further comprising: adjusting means for causing the forward or backward distances traveled by material falling through the respective troughs to be selectively modified.

4. The machine set forth in claim 3 wherein the adjusting mechanism is positioned between said lifting means and the upper surface of said bridge and is in the form of a plurality of inverted V-shaped members selectively movable to cover varying portions of said forwardly and rearwardly declining troughs.

5. The machine set forth in claim 1 and further comprising: adjusting means for selectively causing a greater or lesser path length for material which falls in one set of troughs declining either forwardly or backwardly and a lesser or greater path length for material which falls in the remaining set of troughs.

6. The machine set forth in claim 1 and further comprising: adjusting means for selectively causing a greater or lesser percentage of the material to be mixed to pass through one or the other of said forwardly and rearwardly declining sets of troughs.

7. The machine set forth in claim 6 wherein the adjusting mechanism is positioned between said lifting means and the upper surface of said bridge and is in the form of a plurality of inverted V-shaped members selectively movable to cover varying portions of said forwardly and rearwardly declining troughs.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,048,763 12/1912 Tiedtke 259-3 1,139,085 5/1915 Tiedtke 259-3 1,271,433 7/1918 Cassel 259-3 2,623,737 12/1952 v McEachran 259-3 2,869,837 l/1959 Pickin 259-3 2,924,513 2/ 1960 Altirnier et al. 259-3 WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner.

R. W. JENKINS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A MACHINE FOR MIXING MATERIAL COMPRISING AN ELONGATED DRUM HAVING AN INTAKE OPENING ON ONE END THEREOF AND A DISCHARGE OPENING AT THE OPPOSITE END THEREOF: MEANS SUPPORTING SAID DRUM FOR ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT ABOUT THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID DRUM; AN ELONGATED STATIONARY SPLITTING BRIDGE SUPPORTED IN SAID DRUM, SAID BRIDGE HAVING A PLURALITY OF UPWARDLY OPEN TROUGHS, A NUMBER OF SAID TROUGHS DECLINING FOWARDLY TOWARD SAID DISCHARGE OPENING AND A NUMBER OF SAID TROUGHS DECLINING REARWARDLY TOWARD SAID INTAKE OPENING; MEANS ON THE INNER PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF SAID DRUM FOR LIFTING THE MATERIAL TO BE MIXED AS SAID DRUM ROTATES AND DUMPING SAID MATERIAL SO THAT SAID MATERIAL IS DISTRIBUTED ONTO SAID BRIDGE, A PORTION OF SAID MATERIAL FALLING DOWN SAID REARWARDLY DECLINING TROUGH AND A PORTION FALLING DOWN SAID FORWARLDY DECLINING TROUGHS; AND MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID DRUM. 